What Makes a Good Barrel Aged Beer

thick mouthfeel, overdone new american oak, malt-forward flavor.

 

wouldnt a thicker mouthfeel have been obtained from the base beer itself?

 

When I drink it I like how it tastes.

 

I've decided that I don't like beers aged in wine, gin, rum, etc. barrels, just bourbon or whisky barrels. So what I'm looking for is a mellowed beer with the right amount of bourbon taste, i.e. balanced with the malt flavors.

 

I feel like the amount of time spent in the barrel is pretty important. 10-12 months and you're getting flavors that 3 months in the barrel just can't provide.

 

there is so much out there right now, what i think separates the amazing BA beers from the 'meh' ones is the overall barrel character that comes out when you drink, whether its fresh or aged. balance is important, and it shouldn't be too masking to take away from the other flavors of the beer, as long as there isn't a ton of heat and its not overwhelming thats always a plus. also depends on the type of barrels used IMO. i always pass this one up http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/193/86545 simply because i don't care for wild turkey

 

Can always just pour a shot of Maker's Mark in a glass of Rasputin

 

well, actually the aging can smooth out the mouthfeel, but of course it won't make it thicker. however, those are the attributes i want in a barrel aged beer. obviously, i want certain elements present in the base beer, so they can interact with the barrel.

you can't care about what the barrel does unless you care about the base beer. as for what the barrel does and what i want it, precisely, to do the answer... i don't really give a shit as long as it tastes good. turn it into caramel like goose island, oak the hell out of it like others, give it a subtle tinge of vanilla, whatever. as long as it tastes good; and normally it tastes best (for me) with a thick mouthfeel, garish new american oak (harsh vanilla, wood, even coconut), and a malt-forward base beer. some sherry/raisin oxidation is a nice touch too, but not necessary.

 

definitely with you on bourbon > rum in general, and about barrel aging at its best when it mellows (rather than turns the beer into tannic astringent HARSH).

that said, when rum barrels are used well, the resulting beer can be unbelievable. i have in mind rum barrel aged imperial smoked porter (smoke from the oak) from captain lawrence (the booze and smoke balance with the sweet rum and heavy oak perfectly), and NEBCO redrum (probably the best beer i've ever tasted; great ages-as-well-as-bigfoot hoppy barleywine mellowed and vanilla-and-caramel-ed out by oak and blended perfectly with the candy rum flavors).

another notable non-bourbon barrel treatment is port cask aged j.w. lees (hit or miss like all j.w. lees harvest ale bottles i'm afraid, but usually a hit, and amazing when it is). probably some good wine barrel aged beers that are more than just idiosyncratic preference, but i can't think of them (got bored with myself).

 

Simply stated, and exactly right for me. You do have to have the core flavors right, though.. I'm drinkin Weyerbacher's BA stout and it is terrible. The core flavors are out of whack. This stout is like a sour that got dropped in a whiskey barrel. I'm not looking for that when I buy a barrel aged stout.

 

Start with a good beer.

 

their barrel aged barleywine, insanity, is great (tastes kind of like founders backwoods bastard lite) but year, heresy is too thin.

 

I don't care about high ABV so much as I care about complexity of flavor the bourbon barrel will bring out. I prefer a subtle but forward bourbon bite with the wood being in the background slightly and the characteristics of the base stout to be amplified as a result of the BA process.

 

Uhh, it might be crazy to suggest this, but that it tastes good, maybe?

 

Do you get the extreme off tasting sour note? I'm not knocking them, because the only other beer I've had is their pumpkin and I liked it. Heresy just seems off though. BTW, I love Backwoods Bastard.

 

For me it's all about the balance. I want to taste the bourbon, but I don't necessarily want it to be the main event.
I look at bourbon barrel aging beer like spices in food. It should enhance the flavor of the beer without dominating it.

 

I think it's important that the base beer be excellent before approaching the barrel. A lot of the time, breweries will take a so-so imperial stout for example, stick it in a barrel for however long (probably not long in this case), and use that as a gimmick to move a shitty beer. So with that in mind... i want the base beer to be of excellent quality (Imperial stouts, or Barley Wines), the ABV to be above 10% (for cellaring purposes), the barrels to be of a decent spirit, and the time spent in the barrel to be right around a year. These are things I look for when searching for a barrel aged beer. For the record, some great BA beers are...

Firestone Sucaba or Parabola.

Bourbon County Stout

Fremont Bourbon Abominable Ale

Older Viscosity

Deliverance (with about 2 years age on it)

Labyrinth Black ale (great year round offering)

 

When I buy a barrel aged beer, I expect the toffee/clove/vanilla/oak/bourbon character to be very balanced with the malt whether it be dark/roast in a stout or dark caramel in a barleywine or whatever. I have had many experiences when the barrel aged character is over the hill and I would be better off drinking scotch. Not what I want in a BA beer, even if I am a scotch fan.

 

it's been too long to say, but not that i remember. i do remember that it was really boozy without any real flavor to back it up.